The Practicum in Study of Student Development: Its Relation to Counselor Preparation

This paper identifies several kinds of counselor activity for which practicum experiences have been or are being designed. These include individual and group counseling, outreach consultation, supervision of practicum students, and the study of student development. The SSD practicum is seen as sensitizing and predisposing the personnel worker to view action research as a relevant and crucial part of counselor education.     

Social gaze in preterm infants may act as an early indicator of atypical lateralization

Visual field biases have been identified as markers of atypical lateralization in children with developmental conditions, but this is the first investigation to consider early lateralized gaze behaviors for social stimuli in preterm infants. Eye-tracking methods with 51 preterm (33 male, 92.1% White) and 61 term-born (31 male, 90.1% White) infants aged 8–10 months from Edinburgh, UK, captured the development of visual field biases, comparing gaze behavior to social and non-social stimuli on the left versus right of the screen. Preterm infants showed a significantly reduced interest to social stimuli on the left versus right compared to term children (d = .58). Preterm children exhibit early differential orienting preferences that may be an early indicator of atypical lateralized function.     

Evaluation of the benefits of laboratory research and information services

The authors examine the problems of ex-post evaluation of the benefits deriving from services provided by Government Laboratories. They concentrate on the difficulties of conducting meaningful ex-post studies since they feel that too many claims are made on the basis of inadequate, incomplete economic assessments using data that would not be substantiated if probed deeply. Their views are based on a review of nine years' practical evaluation experience.The paper defines three ways in which services/information sources can link up with intended recipients, and discusses the practical problems associated with assessing the impact of services in each case. These problems range from sampling errors and sample bias in questionnaire approaches, to limited respondent knowledge and perspective. Critical probing can overcome these difficulties in some, though not all, instances, since there are issues of principle that prohibit unique attribution of benefits to specific initiatives in many ex-post analyses. The use of cost recovery as a proxy measure of worth is reviewed.The authors point out that ex-ante appraisal of profits is not subject to the same constraints and avoids many of the pitfalls of ex-post evaluation.     

Carell,Selbststeuerung und Partizipation beim computergestützten kollaborativen Lernen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Mediated Effects of Technology Competencies and Experiences on Relations among Attitudes Towards Technology Use,Technology Ownership,and Self Efficacy about Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This study examined the relations of preservice science teachers’ attitudes towards technology use, technology ownership, technology competencies, and experiences to their self-efficacy beliefs about technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The present study also investigated interrelations among preservice teachers’ attitudes towards technology use, technology ownership, technology competencies, and experiences. The participants of study were 665 elementary preservice science teachers (467 females, 198 males) from 7 colleges in Turkey. The proposed model based on educational technology literature was tested using structural equation modeling. The model testing results revealed that preservice teachers’ technology competencies and experiences mediated the relation of technology ownership to their TPACK self efficacy beliefs. The direct relation of their possession of technology to their TPACK self efficacy beliefs was insignificant while the indirect relation through their technology competencies and experiences was significant. The results also indicated there were significant direct effects of preservice teachers’ attitudes towards technology use, technology competencies, and experiences on their TPACK self efficacy beliefs.     

Mentoring Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Mathematics Research Students: Junior Faculty Experiences

Abstract

To be successful, junior faculty must properly manage their time in the face of expanding responsibilities. One such responsibility is supervising undergraduate research projects. Student research projects (either single or multi-student) can be undertaken as a full-time summer experience, or as a part-time academic year commitment. With many potential undergraduate research formats, and with different types of students, junior faculty may find challenges in forming their research group, establishing a structure that promotes student productivity, picking an appropriate project, or in effectively mentoring their students. This article draws from the authors’ experiences to help junior faculty navigate these complexities so that all parties reap the benefits of undergraduate research in interdisciplinary mathematical disciplines.     

The Motivations of Book Publishers in Germany and Australia: An Empirical Comparison

Our study compares the motivations of Australian and German book publishers. The results demonstrate remarkable similarities, but also a significant difference regarding the effects of the publishers’ self-concept. In the German case the publishers with a dominant economic orientation are more proactive than the publishers with a dominant cultural orientation. In the Australian case, this correlation does not exist. The same difference holds for the relationship between the economic orientation and extrinsic motivation. We discuss these results and examine empirical evidence and theoretical suggestions to explain the differing findings. The data stem from surveys conducted in the two countries with responses of 196 (Germany) and 54 publishers (Australia).